Fred Genesee

Fred Genesee obtained his Ph.D. at Laval University and is a Professor of psychology at McGill University. He specializes in second language acquisition and bilingualism research. In particular, his research examines the early stages of the acquisition of two languages in order to better understand this form of language acquisition and ascertain the neurocognitive limits of the child's ability to acquire language. Specific topics Genesee has investigated in his research include language representation (lexical and syntactic) in early stages of bilingual acquisition, transfer in bilingual development, structural and functional characteristics of child bilingual code-mixing, and communication skills in young bilingual children. In addition to this, Genesee has investigated in second language acquisition in school and the modalities for effective acquisition in school contexts.

Publications

 * Paradis, J. and F. Genesee (1996). Syntactic acquisition in bilingual children: Autonomous or interdependent? SSLA, 18, 1-25.